I have two rods I want to build this winter, a 9' 10 wt. and a 10'6" 9wt., when St. Croix has the blank available. I would like to use single foot strippers ,20-16-12, two 12's on the 10'6". Has anybody tried this with any success on a saltwater rod like these? I usually use Pac Bay LCTC or LCTN's. I'll be using either TiCH single foot wire guides or Fuji SIC fly guides the rest of the way up, ( all oversized)

I do not see why single foot strippers would not work. It's the same guide minus one foot or leg. The line and the rod will never know it.
They might be more vunerable to damage from getting bent or hung on objects when you store or transport the rod though.

A number 20 sounds very large though for a stripping guide. Why would you go that big? I don't understand what it will do for you that a number 16 would not. Also why oversize? What will this do? I've seen and read alot on this subject and the general opinion seems to be that you don't want to go any bigger than is absolutely necessary. I would think #8 or no larger than #10 running guides will be all you could ever need. I have some 10 weight rods and run #8 fuji guides for running guides and they work just fine. A bigger guide would do nothing for me except add more weight.

I have done a lot of saltwater fly fishing with the heavy weight fly rods and can tell you that some guys have gone overboard with the ring sizing. Most will tell you that they like a large stripping guide so that knots and tangles in the line will not get hung up there. Newsflash - if it doesn't hang on the stripping guide, it will hang at the next guide up, or the next or the next. A fly line with a knot or tangle in it is a line that isn't going to cast that time. Give it up and try again.

Tangles happen and if you don't go too large, sometimes, just sometimes, the tangle will fall out when it hits the first stripper, if the stripper isn't too large and lets it pass. You need to knock it out before it makes its way to the running guides.

By and large though, if you have a bad tangle, you're going to have to stop, untangle it, and cast again.

I have some really big salt fly rods that have Fuji Titanium frame SIC ringed guides in size 10 for the running guides. They are pretty light for their size and I like them. I cannot imagine going any larger and have to admit that I also have rods with the same guides in size 8 and can't really tell any difference.

Hi Lou
I am building that same size rod as well as a couple close to it this winter and I am interested in using single foot strippers also.
Tom recently mentioned trying high frame strippers like the svsg in a set-up like you're talking about and as he was responding to a question about a 7 wt. suggested a 16 then 12. I'm thinking 20 then 16 for the strippers on the 9 and 10 wts. I'd be curious what sizes you think you'd use on out from there. One thought that occurs to me is would not the ring size of the tip top not represent the largest size that any running guide would need to be to be effective?

I have never seen the need for a #20 but if your tests indicate that it offers some advantage there's no reason not to use it. And yes, there is no reason to have your running guides any larger than the ring in your tip-top. Running #10 runners and then finishing with a #8 tip top ring pretty much negates anything the #10 guides would have done for you, if anything.

On these larger rods you can use a casting/spinning tip top. I used to get the wrap-on style from Clemens with a #10 ring for my really big fly rods. Then couple them with #10 Fuji SIC Titanium guides for the runners. It was a nice set up on the 12weights and above.

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I haven't tried single foot stripping guides yet, but I agree that 20-16-12-12 would be right for a 10 wt. Although if you use guides with a very high frame, you may want to drop down a size on each guide. I've used the pac bay single foot tich guides quite a bit and like to use size 6 and then drop down to size 5 for the last few near the tip and use an extra large top. These guides are much smaller and lighter than double snakes.